EDUCATION

Master of Urban Planning 2000 University of Washington, Seattle WA
Bachelor of Fine Arts 1994 Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware OH

MAJOR PROJECTS / CREATIVE PLACEMAKING

2018–Present
Lead Artist, Lenapehoking~Watershed art initiative, PA-NJ-DE. Commissioned by the Alliance for Watershed Education of the Delaware River to create a series of community-engaged, site specific, temporary ecological sculptures for 16 sites across the watershed.

Artist in Residence for the Duwamish River, City of Tukwila WA. Developed artwork, programs, and events to highlight the Duwamish River’s presence in Tukwila, including multiple ecological art interventions as part of a restoration project daylighting the Riverton Creek.

2017-Present
Artist in Residence, Sound Transit Public Art Program, Seattle WA. Conducted community research, planning, and temporary and permanent art project development to guide public art as part of the Federal Way light rail extension.

2014-2016 
Co-Artistic Director, Duwamish Revealed (with Nicole Kistler and the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle), Seattle WA. Organized and curated a large scale ($500,000 budget) outdoor art exhibition along and about the Duwamish River.

2009-2014 
Studio Kabuya (with Adria Garcia). Developed a unique land art practice that is a contemporary artistic perspective on traditional land-based culture, “women’s work”, ceremony and labor.

2011 
Last Chance Travel (with Nicole Kistler), Seattle WA. A participatory, ersatz travel agency communicating the impacts of climate change using a range of media.

2010
Industrial Harvest, Chicago IL. A large-scale artistic gesture of Herculean proportions. I bought a futures contract for 1000 bushels of wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade, took delivery of the wheat, milled it into 20 tons of flour and gave that flour away to individuals and organizations across Chicago.

2007-2008
Watermark (collaboration with Vaughn Bell and Nicole Kistler). Participatory performance actions and ephemera about potential sea level rise in Seattle.

2006
The Living Barge Project (with Nicole Kistler), Seattle WA. Part community builder, part environmental restoration, and part art installation, the Living Barge Project was a large-scale temporary public art project on Seattle’s Duwamish River. We planted a barge with the native plants of the Duwamish, creating a temporary, floating island to comment on the Duwamish’s past, present and future.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND COMMISSIONS

2021
Al Mudhif: A Confluence. Group exhibition, Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia PA.

2018
Bellwether. Group exhibition, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue WA.

2017
Towards Love in Public, ACT Theater, Seattle WA.

Out of One, Many; Out of Many, One (E Pluribus Unum). Temporary sculpture, Shoreline WA.

2016
Giant Steps. Group exhibition, King Street Station, Seattle WA.

2015
Traces of Obsolescence. Duwamish Revealed; funded by 4Culture Site Specific program.

2014
Woven Grass Village (with Adria Garcia). Lo-Fi, Arlington WA.

Wave Form (with Adria Garcia). From The Ground Up outdoor art exhibition, Shoreline WA

2013
Salmon Returns (with Adria Garcia). Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle WA.

Woven Grass Village (with Adria Garcia). Lo-Fi festival, Smoke Farm, Arlington WA.

THE SALON (with Adria Garcia). Green River Natural Resources Area, Kent WA.

Skygazing. Ephemeral woven grass sculpture for residency in Stehekin, WA.

Headwaters of Industry (paintings). Highline Community College, Des Moines WA.

2012
KABUYA (with Adria Garcia). Magnuson Park, Seattle WA.

Woven Grass Village (with Adria Garcia). Lo-Fi festival, Smoke Farm, Arlington WA.

Baskets (with Adria Garcia). Bellwether Outdoor Sculpture exhibition, Bellevue, WA.

2011
Natural. Ephemeral sculpture for Brightwater Wastewater Treatment Plant, Woodinville, WA.

Woven Grass Village (with Adria Garcia). Lo-Fi festival, Smoke Farm, Arlington WA.

Passage. McCormick Park, Duvall, WA as part of The Long Walk event.

Forecast: Communicating Weather and Climate. Group exhibition, Seattle Convention Center (for Watermark with Nicole Kistler & Vaughn Bell).

2010
Hey! We’re all Beginners Here. Group exhibition, Roots & Culture Art Center, Chicago IL.

Women in Grains. Group exhibition, Woolen Mill Gallery, Reedsburg WI.

Grass Braid Redux. Sammamish River Trail, Redmond WA

2009
Grass Braid. Smoke Farm Lo-Fi festival, Arlington WA.

Headwaters of Industry. Vermillion Gallery, Seattle (paintings).

2008
Environmental Performance Actions. Group exhibition, Exit Art, NYC (for Watermark with Nicole Kistler & Vaughn Bell).

Borderlands. Group exhibition, South Seattle Community College.

Envisioning A Future. Group exhibition, South Seattle Community College.

2007
Motel #1. Group exhibition, Bridge Motel, Seattle.

Groundtruthing. Group exhibition, SOIL Gallery, Seattle

2006
Personally Public. Group exhibition, Crawl Space, Seattle

SELECTED LECTURES, GRANTS & AWARDS

2022

• MacMillen Foundation Fellowship for restoration-based artwork on the Duwamish River
  

2021

• “THE STORY OF PHRAG AND AL-MUDHIF.” RICHARD F JAMES LECTURE, SCHUYLKILL CENTER fOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION, FEB. 18. 2021, Online.

2020

• “Nature’s Long Memory.” Tyler School of Art guest artist lecture, Sept. 30, 2020, Online.
• “A Return.” Moore College of Art, Conversations@Moore series. Jan 27 2020, Philadelphia PA.

2019

• “A Return.” Lecture / discussion for Moore College of Art, Conversations@Moore series. With Ernesto Pujol; moderated by Anuradha Mathur.

2018

• “Creative Placemaking to Activate the Downtown Urban Plaza.” Daylong workshop at BEND DESIGN conference, October 27, 2018, Bend OR.
• “Placemaking, Placekeeping, and Women’s Work.” Featured speaker for Bend Women’s March at Scale House, March 17, 2018, Bend OR.
• “Creative Placemaking.” Joint guest classroom lecture with Adria Garcia, UW School of Social Work, Seattle WA. March 8, 2018.

2017

• Guest House Cultural Capital Residency and associated guest artist lecture, WSU Tri-Cities Campus, Richland WA

2016

• Loeb Fellowship Finalist, Harvard Graduate School of Design
• “Duwamish Revealed.” Opening plenary panel for ArtPlace Grantee Summit, April 4-6 2016,
• Phoenix AZ
• “More than Visual.” City of Seattle Public Art Boot Camp, March 26, 2016, Seattle WA
• Prequalified Artist Roster, Sound Transit
• “Adventures along the Cultural Transect.” New Partners for Smart Growth, Feb 10-12, Portland OR

2015

• Seattle’s Most Influential People 2015, Seattle Magazine
• Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Neighborhood Matching Fund Grant for Duwamish Revealed ($25,000, with Nicole Kistler and the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle)

2014

• ArtPlace America grant for Duwamish Revealed ($300,000, with Nicole Kistler and the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle)
• Taino Friendship & Essence of Spirituality Award for work with Studio Kabuya
• 4Culture Site Specific grant for Traces of Obsolecence (Duwamish Revealed).

2013

• Residency at Stehekin, WA National Park for woven grass sculpture at historic Buckner Orchard.
• 4Culture Art Projects Grant for ephemeral woven grass installation and associated cultural
• programming in Kent, WA (with Adria Garcia).
• Olympic Sculpture Park guest tour guide for summer opening celebration.

2012

• City of Seattle CityArtists grant for ephemeral grass installation and associated cultural programming in Magnuson Park (with Adria Garcia).
• Invited artist participant / presenter, SITAC X (Symposium of International Contemporary Art and Theory), Mexico City, Mexico (for Industrial Harvest)

2011

• 4Culture Group Artist Project grant award (for Last Chance Travel with Nicole Kistler)
• Storefronts Seattle program artist (for Last Chance Travel with Nicole Kistler)
• “Fixing a broken food system.” Panel speaker, Town Hall Seattle (for Industrial Harvest)

2010

• Artist in Residence, Mess Hall, Chicago IL (for Industrial Harvest research & eventsprogramming)
• Guest classroom lecturer, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Invited lecturer, Jane Addams Hull House Museum ReThinking Soup lecture series. Two lectures, June and October 2010 (for Industrial Harvest)
• 4Culture (King County) Site Specific (temporary public art) program artist

2009

• Michael Piazza Artist in Residence at InCUBATE, Chicago IL (for Industrial Harvest research)
• “Just for Awhile.” Panel speaker on temporary public art, Americans for the Arts Conference, June 18-20

2009, Seattle WA

• Residency at radical ecologist Nance Klehm’s Urban Homestead, Chicago, IL (for Industrial Harvest research)

2008

• 4Culture Group Artist Project grant (for Living Barge film documentation with Nicole Kistler & Sid Fox)
• Virtual resident, Democracy Guest List, the blog of artist & cultural critic Anne E. Moore (for Industrial Harvest research)
• Public Art selection panelist for City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs

2007

• Coastal America 2007 Partnership Award for the Living Barge Project, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

2006

• City of Seattle Neighborhood Matching Fund Grant (the Living Barge Project)
• Neighbor 2 Neighbor Fund grant (the Living Barge Project)

2002

• Contributing Writer, Illustrator and Arts Columnist, Matte Magazine 1-3
• $3,500 City of Seattle CarSmart Grant for Car-Free Seattle

2001

• $5,000 City of Seattle CarSmart Grant for Car-Free Fremont

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brangien Davis, Crosscut, March 10 2022. "ArtSEA: New art springs up along the Duwamish River."

Kevin Riordan, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sept. 11 2021. “On 9/11 anniversary, veterans and refugees seek healing through nature, art, and heart-to-heart.”

Charles Davis, Business Insider, Jun 10 2021. “PHOTOS: See the unique house made out of reeds being built in a Pennsylvania forest.”

Peter Crimmins, WHYY, May 30, 2021. "Iraq veterans and Iraqi immigrants build a traditional house of reeds in Philadelphia."

Susan Phillips and Maddy Lauria, WHYY / Delaware Online, April 10, 2020. “Could climate change shift the conversation on this invasive species?”

Brangien Davis, Seattle Magazine, November 2015. Seattle’s Most Influential People, 2015: “The River Queens.

Brangien Davis, Seattle Magazine, August 2015. “Duwamish Revealed: A Celebration of Seattle's Only River.

Andie Waterman, Seattle Times, August 2, 2015. “’Duwamish Revealed’ means to inspire river’s revitalization.

Jen Graves, “A River Reclaimed.” The Stranger, July 15, 2015

Jim Demetre, “A River Revived.” CityArts, July 2015

“Duwamish Revealed: Celebrating the River and the Communities Working to Save It.” Reagan Jackson, South Seattle Emerald, June 8 2015.

Jen Graves, The Stranger, August 21-27, 2013. The Stranger Suggests column – “The Salon in the Field.”

Brian Miller, Seattle Weekly, October 17, 2012. “The Fussy Eye: Braids of Grass.”

Laura Cassidy, SeattleMet blog, Sept. 7, 2012. “Go See: Braided Nature at Magnuson Park.”

Brendan Kiley, The Stranger, August 28, 2012. “Lo-fi Lepers: Art vs. Nature, Round 6.”

Lillian Nickerson, CityArts blog, August 29, 2012. “Lo-fi Festival: Gently Overwhelming.”

Joseph Hart, Public Art Review Issue 46 (Spring 2012). “Speculative Art” (for Industrial Harvest).

Daniel Tucker, AREA Chicago #10, Institutions and Infrastructures, Fall 2010. “Industrial Harvest.”

Daniel Tucker, H-Art International, October 2010. “Summer Harvest: Three visiting artist projects about

food, community and economy descend on Chicagoland.”

First Business News, Sept. 13 2010. “Free Flour.” TV interview on Industrial Harvest.

BBC World Update, Sept. 11 2010. Radio interview on Industrial Harvest.

Martha Bayne, Chicago Reader, August 2 2010. “Enriched.” Feature article on Industrial Harvest.

Joanna Ericson, Gapers Block, August 6 2010. “Industrial Harvest.”

Daily Candy, August 4 2010. “Give back and earn your daily bread.”

“Mapping C-Change,” The Sceptical Futuryst, Friday, February 2, 2008:

Regina Hackett, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 2 2007. Watermark featured in In the Galleries column.

“Personally Public,” Sue Peters, Seattle Weekly Online, April 26, 2006

Dan Gonsiorowski, Seattlest, April 27 2006. “Living Barge Tours Eliott Bay Today.”

Laura Cassidy, Seattle Weekly, April 19-25 2006. The Living Barge Project featured in Arts & Culture This Week column.

Adam Hyla, Real Change News, April 19-25 2006. The Living Barge Project featured in Change Agent column.

Meryl Schenker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Friday April 28 2006. “Uprooting the Artful Planting.”

Dan Gonsiorowski, Seattlest, April 7 2006. “The Barge Is Living And The River Is Dead.”

Thomas James Hurst, The Seattle Times, Tuesday March 28 2006. “A Boatload of Native Plants.”

COMMUNITY SERVICE

2018
Beekeeper, Urban Bee Co., Seattle WA.

Georgetown Steam Plant Advisory Committee. Developed programming, financing, and preservation recommendations for the historic Georgetown Steam Plant, Seattle WA.

Capitol Hill Arts District & Eco-District Steering Committees, Capitol Hill Housing (now Community Roots Housing), Seattle WA

2016 & 2017
Planning Committee, Duwamish River Festival, Seattle WA.

2014 – 2015
Kaupo Community Association / Friends of Haleakala National Park. Volunteering to restore historic school / grounds and remove invasive species, Maui, HI.

2003-2006
Board of Directors, Bike Works, Seattle WA (board president 05-06; chair or co-chair of annual benefit auction 03-06).

2003-2005
City of Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board

PUBLICATIONS

Kavage, S. “A Geography of Illinois Wheat.” Contribution to Food: An Atlas, ed. Darin Jensen and Molly Roy, CAGE Lab, Geography Department, UC Berkeley, 2013.

Frank LD, Kavage S, Poulos G, Fox E (2012). “Lessons from the City of Vancouver: How to Accommodate Growth & Create a More Sustainable Transportation System at the Same Time.” Report prepared for Infrastructure Canada, Vancouver BC.

Frank, L., Kavage, S., & Devlin, A. (2012). “Health and the built environment: A review.” Urban Design, 4.

Frank, L.D., Greenwald, M.J., Kavage, S. and Devlin, A. (2011). “An assessment of urban form and pedestrian and transit improvements as an integrated GHG reduction strategy.” Report No. WA-RD 765.1 prepared for the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Moudon, A.V., Sohn, D.W., Kavage, S.E. and Mabry, J.E. (2011). “Transportation-efficient land use mapping index (TELUMI), a tool to assess multimodal transportation options in metropolitan regions.” International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 5(2), pp.111-133.

Kavage S, Frank L, Kolian T. “The Hidden Health Costs of Transportation.” Report for American Public Health Association, 2010.

Frank LD, Greenwald MJ, Winkelman S, Chapman J, Kavage S (2010). “Carbonless Footprints: Promoting

Health and Climate Stabilization Through Active Transportation.” Preventive Medicine Vol. 50 S1, S99-S105.

Kavage S. “A Geography of Illinois Wheat.” Area Chicago #9, Peripheral Vision, 2009.

Frank L, Kavage S (2009). “A national plan for physical activity: the enabling role of the built environment.” Journal of Physical Activity & Health Vol. 6 Suppl 2:S186-95.

Frank L, Kavage S (2008). “Urban Planning and Public Health: A Story of Separation and Reconnection.” Journal of Public Health Management & Practice 14(3), 214–220

Frank LD, Kavage S, Appleyard B. “The Urban Form and Climate Change Gamble.” Planning, Aug/Sept 2007.

Frank LD, Bradley M, Kavage S, Chapman J, Lawton TK (2008). “Urban form, travel time, and cost relationships with tour complexity and mode choice.” Transportation, 35(1), 37-54.

Kavage S, Myers T (2007). “Unhappy Birthday: 50 Infamous Years of American Roadbuilding.” Carbusters #29.

Goldberg D, Frank L, McCann B, Chapman J, & Kavage S (2007). “New Data for a New Era: A Summary of the SMARTRAQ Findings; Linking Land Use, Transportation, Air Quality and Health in the Atlanta Region.” Summary Report of the SMARTRAQ study.

Leinberger, C., & Kavage, S. (2007). “Barriers to Developing Walkable Urbanism and Possible Solutions.” Washington: Brookings.

Frank L, Kavage S, Litman T. “Promoting Public Health Through Smart Growth.” Report for Smart Growth BC, 2006.

Moudon, A., Kavage, S., Mabry, J., & Sohn, D. (2005). “A transportation-efficient land use mapping index.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, (1902), 134-144.

Kavage, S., Moudon, A., Mabry, J., & Pergakes, N. (2005). Transportation-efficient land use regulations and their application in the Puget Sound Region, Washington. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, (1902), 44-54.

Kavage S (2004). “Yes, it is About the Artists: The Tacoma Story.” The Next American City 7.

Kavage S (2004). “Today’s Company Town: Seattle’s Boeing Fixation.” The Next American City 4.

Kavage S (2003). “Reclaiming the Grid: Portland’s City Repair.” The Next American City 3.

Kavage S (2003). “Leavenworth, Washington and the Marketing of Place.” The Next American City 2.

Kavage S (2002). “Freighted With Meaning or Memory: Jane Dickson Paints the Domestic Uncanny.” Matte Magazine no. 2

Kavage S, Moore AE (2002). “Quit Your Job: An Interview with Greg Lundgren of Artists For A Work Free America.” Matte Magazine no. 1.

Kavage S (2001). “Renee French’s Awkward Adolescence.” The Comics Journal no. 234.